


will you share your soul with me?

by sanctify (pains)



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Acts Like a Cat, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Needs a Hug, F/M, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, No Dialogue, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-20
Updated: 2019-11-20
Packaged: 2021-02-16 01:08:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21499351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pains/pseuds/sanctify
Summary: unzip your skin and let me have a see.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Plagg, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 5
Kudos: 125





	will you share your soul with me?

The lead of Adrien's pencil snaps.

He stares at the broken piece, and for some reason, it's what finally breaks him.

Fat beads of tears leak from his eyes and he (tosses his pencil so hard to the side that it snaps on impact against his wall) brings his hands up to cover his face (and muffle the yell that escapes from his throat).

He can't ( _doesn't want to_ ) breathe.

The heaviness in his heart is too much to carry alone and he (feels like he's drowning, drowning, _**drowning**_ ) thinks something is wrong with him (not for the first time, not for the last time).

Plagg is a silent (for once) witness to his breakdown. The little god stays on his shoulder, a steady weight (comforting, grounding, _real_ ) that he clings onto.

He swallows the sour taste of bile that comes up, doesn't want to make a mess of himself. (Doesn't want to cause any more trouble, but it seems trouble keeps finding him.)

Plagg purrs at him, rubbing his small little head against Adrien's damp cheek. (Neither of them mention the distressed rumble that comes from Adrien himself.)

He is so tired. 

Far too tired.

Plagg floats up in front of his face, his eyes imploring Adrien silently. 

Adrien swallows, nods, takes a deep breath. He says the transformation phrase, and Chat Noir is left standing where Adrien once was. 

(They had discovered earlier on that it was far harder to be Akumatized from long-distance if they were in their suits. Papillon would have to be right there if he wished to send one of his butterflies over to them.) 

As silent as a cat, the hero leaves the confines of his room (his prison). 

He takes to the skies, not really having a destination in mind. 

He runs, runs, runs. As far away from that house. (Far away from expectations of perfection, of lonely meals, and lonelier halls.) The city at night is a welcome distraction. Beautiful and bright, the sight almost warms his heart.

He stops on a rooftop near Françoise Dupont, an inconsequential resting spot. 

His face is still wet with tears. 

Being outside was much better than being cooped up in his room... but he was still alone. So very alone. 

Would he ever stop being lonely? (Would he ever stop being empty?)

He despises when he gets like this. When all his bottled emotions leak out until the dam breaks and he's left drowning with no lifesaver to keep him afloat.

(He has a photoshoot tomorrow morning at 6. He has to be up by 4 to finish his Chinese homework. He needs to find a way out of the shoot to get to class by 10 for a Physics test. He has fencing, he has Chinese, he has piano, he has patrol...)

A broken sob leaves his lips.

It's too much. He's too tired. It's too much. Too much. 

His leather ears twitch, and he knows it's the bandalore before he even recognizes the sound.

He hears her land behind him. He can't even summon any false bravado, can't greet her like he normally does. (If he tries to open his mouth now, he might actually throw up.) 

He sniffles, clears his throat. Swallows. 

Does it again. 

And again. 

Another sob.

She is beside him immediately. Her bluebell eyes pierce into his soul whenever she looks at him, but this time his vision is too blurry to see them in all their stunning clarity.

This isn't the first time she's caught him like this. (Nor will it be the last, not even in the future when secrets are revealed and they're together.) 

She says nothing as she brings his head down to her shoulder. She wraps him in her arms and says nothing as he crumples against her.

The distressed purr comes back.

She has one of her hands in his hair, the other rubbing soothing circles against his back.

(She doesn't know what's wrong with him, they're not like that - not yet - but she worries about him all the same.)

They stay like that for what seems to be hours, but couldn't have even been half of an hour.

He calms down enough to tamp down on his emotions, enough to... to... (it feels like crushing his own emotions under his feet until they're nothing, until he can sweep them underneath the rug, never to be seen again.)

He gently pulls away from her.

She smiles gently ( _worriedly_ ) at him, eyes inquiring.

He nods.

She nods back at him.

No more words need to be said. He knew she could read him just as well as he could her. 


End file.
